TACTILE APPARATUS OF SOLE. 6^,^ 



most wonderful manner. These filaments are also organs 

 of tact, each containing a sensitive nervx destined to 

 endow the foot with the attributes of a tactile organ. 



This disposition will enable us to realize, to some ex- 

 tent, the amount of injury done by paring. The horn 

 thrown out for their defence and support being removed 

 by the farrier's knife, and perhaps the ends of these villi 

 cut through, the meagre pellicle remaining rapidly 

 shrivels up, the containing cavity of each vascular tuft 

 as quickly contracts on the vessels and nerves, which, in 

 their turn, diminish in volume, disappear, or become 

 morbidly sensitive through this squeezing influence. 

 The feet of a horse so treated are always hot, the soles 

 look dry and stony, and become unnaturally concave ; 

 the animal goes ' tender ' after each shoeing, and it is not 

 until the horn has been regenerated to a certain extent, 

 that he steps with anything like ease. Until the new 

 material has been formed, each 'papilla' experiences the 

 same amount of inconvenience and suffering that the 

 human foot does in a new tight boot. This tenderness 

 is usually ascribed to the nails, and other causes ; and 

 the horse in the stable rests one foot after another, as if 

 he suffered uneasiness or pain. 



The process of deterioration is comparatively slow, how- 

 ever, and the culprits who cause this mischief evade their 

 responsibility. Their utmost skill, however, is racked to 

 protect artificially the parts they have robbed and are 

 gradually destroying. Shoes with a wide cover carefully 

 kept from contact with the sole — for that would infallibly 

 cause lameness — are put on the mutilated feet, and even 

 leather soles and bolsters of tow steeped in pine-tar are 



